disempaction help - 10 days of 12 satchets

[Marzipanx]

Hi,

Looking for a bit of advice- we are on second disempaction with our 5 year old. Last year he had the max dose for at least 5-6 weeks and still did not reach rusty water.

we have started another disempaction with senna and laxido this time and he has been on the max dose of laxido (12 satchets) and 20ml of senna for 10 days now. We think we’re getting there with liquid poos then it goes back more fluffy poos! It doesn’t make sense.

We keep getting advised to keep going we’re nearly there but we cannot keep him off school indefinitely.

How long does this take?

[Lem14]

Hi, I’ve been struggling with a second impaction too, although my son will take no more than 6 sachets of Movicol a day, he just refuses anymore so it’s impossible. Have you tried a suppository?

[Marzipanx in reply to Lem14]

Hi, thanks for replying! we have not been offered suppositories but I spoke to the bladder and bowel team yesterday who said we have given it a good go and to drop down meds now. We tried the sweetcorn test and it all came out within an hour so I actually think he’s cleared out but maybe he’s just not going to reach rusty water!

[Lem14 in reply to Marzipanx]

That’s good to know. We also tried the sweetcorn test and it came out within the 24 hours so I dropped to a maintenance dose but he’s still having loose poos so dropped it down to 1 sachet a day but still very loose, so unsure what is going on now. He’s still soiling 🙁 I’m wondering if it just takes ages for things to get back to normal?! Spoke to the GP and we’re now waiting for a paediatrician referral, it’s horrible isn’t it. Just wish I knew what the answer was to make it better for him!

[ERIC-Charity Partner]

When children are constipated the bowel becomes full of poo causing it to stretch and blocking the signals to our brain telling us that we need to go for a poo. After we have cleared out this blockage it can remain floppy as it takes the bowel anything from 2 weeks to a year to return to its usual size and tone. Meaning children may be unaware of their need to go for a poo even after disimpaction has cleared the backlog. For this reason, it's important to have a toileting routine in place. You can find out more about this on the following pages: eric.org.uk/childrens-bowel... and eric.org.uk/advice-for-chil...